Hi ballet friend,

A lot of what makes ballet interesting to me is watching dancers do the same steps — as a group dancing in unison, or as soloists performing classical repertoire. You'll see almost identical step sequences in most versions of Swan Lake, but it feels different because each artist colours their performance in their own way.

One of my favourite things about teaching is that when I give my students space to explore emotions, dynamics, and muscial cues alongside the kinaesthetic parts of ballet, they take those ideas and run with them. Each person beautifully unique, even as we're all dancing an identical enchaînment.

I've had a rough few years with my health, and wasn't sure how much or how long I'd keep teaching. I'm at the point now, where I finally feel like I have a system that works.

I've slowly built up a roster of demonstration videos to share during class so I don't risk fainting by standing up too much, and the gremlins who live inside Zoom have been mostly cooperative.

I've gotta tell you, ballet friend...having a regular weekly ballet class again has given me space to fall back in love with teaching 💖 We've got the loveliest little group, and it really is something to see everybody moving together and shining out their personalities.

We'll be working on ballet principles like:

• Épaulement — the shoulder rotation that's at the expressive heart of ballet (it also helps activate your core stability and keep your balance).

• Transferrence of Weight — trusting your body to calibrate itself when shifting to stand on a single leg.

• Ballón — bouncy freedom of movement that creates resilience and rebound in your jumps.

Join us live or catch the recording at inspiredmotion.ca/classes.

Can't wait to see the one-of-a-kind heart you bring to class,

Natasha